Millwall 3-1 Preston North End: Macauley Langstaff scores first Lions goal in simple win at The Den

Macauley Langstaff struck his first goal as Millwall recorded their second Sky Bet Championship win of the season in the 3-1 victory over Preston.

The two sides came into this clash level on five points in the table, but there was a gulf between them on the afternoon once George Honeyman opened the scoring with his first goal in two years.

Romain Esse was the Lions' other goalscorer as the youngster produced a performance of real quality, with the only negative for the hosts being a needless late red card for Aidomo Emakhu, before Jordan Storey grabbed a late consolation for the Lilywhites.

Millwall began the more purposeful and almost went ahead in stunning fashion in the 10th minute when midfielder Casper De Norre smashed a volley from just outside the area against the crossbar.

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The Lions deserved their lead when it arrived after 24 minutes when Jake Cooper nodded down George Saville's free kick for Langstaff to pull the ball across and give the stretching Honeyman his first goal since August 2022.

Going behind seemed to give Preston a boost and they were almost level within four minutes when Brad Potts' shot from Josh Bowler's low cross was kept out by Millwall goalkeeper Lukas Jensen.

However, the hosts' lead was doubled in the 38th minute when Duncan Watmore slid the ball through for Esse, who calmly rounded Freddie Woodman before slotting his shot in from a narrow angle.

Poor in the first half, Preston almost pulled a goal back within a minute of the restart when Duane Holmes chipped in a cross from the left that was fired wide by Bowler.

Instead, Millwall had a third in the 47th minute when Watmore played in Honeyman, who returned the favour from earlier to present Langstaff with his first goal since his summer arrival from Notts County.

Joe Bryan had an opportunity to add a fourth for Millwall when he charged into the area after intercepting Kaine Kesler-Hayden's pass, but Woodman beat away his effort.

Home substitute Mihailo Ivanovic almost gifted Preston a goal back with nine minutes left when he headed Robbie Brady's corner against his own post.

It still would not go in for the visitors as a header by Milutin Osmajic - charged by the FA for biting Blackburn's Owen Beck earlier in the week - from Brady's cross was pushed away by Jensen.

But the Lilywhites finally had a consolation in the 87th minute when Storey was on hand to fire in the rebound after Ben Whiteman's shot was blocked.

There was still time for further incident as Emakhu was shown two yellow cards in a matter of seconds for diving over Liam Lindsay's challenge in the Preston area before headbutting Brady.

The managers

Millwall's Neil Harris:

"Ultimately, it's a really good day for us, a really strong performance.

"I'm delighted for the three goalscorers, it was really important for all three goalscorers - Macauley and G to get off the mark and for Romain to get his first home goal, so confidence is really high in the changing room.

"G scores and then sets up Macauley for the third goal as well, so it's really good to see the nine and 10 in that combination.

"I'm obviously really pleased for Romain as well and he just keeps lighting the place up with his movement and his use of the ball.

"I thought first half we dominated proceedings and I was really pleased with my goalkeeper [Lukas Jensen].

"I thought he kicked well, I thought he was assured on crosses and two really big saves as well - the one in the first half [from Brad Potts] was a really important save."

Preston's Paul Heckingbottom:

"We got what we deserved, really, starting like that. We were really slow to start.

"We spoke so much about their set-plays and their threat and you can't always stop good heading of the ball, but more often than not the area he heads it down to is the danger, and we spoke about that a lot.

"To concede that goal was really poor on our part, but it was coming; they'd already hit the bar and we'd had a few warnings.

"I felt that shook us into life a bit and we had a couple of good moments, and then the second goal is a counter-attack from our set-play.

"If you go 2-0 down, it's difficult, especially here because Millwall can just sit in and deny space.

"We made some changes at half-time, created a good chance and then 60 seconds later we're 3-0 down, again from being out-competed."

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